The following invention relates to vises for holding a work piece when the work piece is to be milled, drilled or otherwise machined. More particularly, this invention relates to jaws attachable to fixed and/or sliding plates of the vise; the jaws particularly configured to hold the work piece in an orientation other than a standard orientation resting horizontally within the vise.
When a work piece is to be machined, such as by milling or drilling, the work piece must be held securely. Vises are provided to hold the work piece during such machining. While vises come in a variety of different configurations, they generally have the basic configuration including a base which can bolt down to a support surface and with plates which move relative to each other. These plates typically include a fixed plate secured to the base without motion and a sliding plate which moves relative to the base toward and away from the fixed plate. These plates typically include jaws which act as bearing surfaces for the plates with the jaws coming into direct contact with the work piece held within the vise.
For many machining operations, particular angles are required between the work piece and the milling tool so that the work piece can be formed as desired. Modern work piece machining equipment can be rotated so that the cutting tool can have the angle desired relative to the work piece. The work piece can thus merely rest with a lower surface of the work piece oriented horizontally against the base of the vise between the two plates. In some circumstances, however, it is desirable that the cutting tool of the machine remain in a standard vertical or horizontal orientation and to have the work piece angled within the vise so that the desired relative angle between the work piece and the cutting tool is provided.
Numerous prior art vises and vise attachments are known which allow angles of the vise to be adjusted so that a work piece can be held at various different angles within the vise. While such adjustable multi-angle vises do hold the work piece at various different angles, other than merely horizontally resting within the vise, these devices must be carefully set up at the desired angle, checked to make sure that they are in fact oriented as desired, and frequently monitored to make- sure that they are maintaining the desired angle. Many work piece machining operations are repetitive in nature where the machining equipment is initially set up and then a machining routine is run repeatedly for multiple different work pieces to provide each of the work pieces with the same contour. In such a common utilization of the machining equipment, an adjustable angle vise is not particularly advantageous. Rather, the potential for the vise coming out of angular adjustment increases the work of the operator in checking to make sure that the vise is still operating properly. Otherwise, the potential exists for large volumes of work pieces to be improperly machined before detection of the misadjustment of the vise out of position.
Accordingly, a need exists for a vise which can hold a work piece at angles other than horizontal and which can reliably maintain its angled support for the work piece.
This invention provides a vise jaw which has a supporting surface which is sloped to hold surfaces of the work piece at angles other than horizontal. The jaw is attachable to a fixed plate or sliding plate of the vise, such as through attachment bolts which thread into threaded bores in the vise. The jaw includes a primary mass and a secondary mass adjacent the primary mass. The primary mass has a rear surface adapted to be placed adjacent the fixed plate or the sliding plate of the vise. The front surface of the primary mass opposite the rear surface faces the opposite plate of the vise.
The secondary mass is adjacent the front surface of the primary mass. The secondary mass can either be formed with the primary mass so that a single unitary mass is provided, or the secondary mass can be a separate mass of material adapted to be removably attached to the primary mass. The secondary mass includes at least one sloping surface which extends perpendicularly away from the front surface of the primary mass. The sloping surface is angled so that it includes a lower end below an upper end. The angle of the sloping surface is fixed, but can have any conceivable desired angle.
Preferably, a set of jaws are provided with the angle of the sloping surface different for each jaw in the set. A user would thus select the jaw having the sloping surface angle desired and then utilize that jaw. No risk is thus taken of the sloping surface pivoting out of proper angular orientation for support of the work piece.
As an alternative to the sloping surface of the secondary mass, the jaw can be provided with a series of pin holes with associated pins to extend out of the pin holes. The pin holes are provided in two rows including an upper row of pin holes and a lower row of pin holes. At least one pin is placed in one of the upper pin holes and at least one pin is placed in one of the lower pin holes. An angle between the pin in the upper pin hole and the pin in the lower pin hole defines an angle of slope which the work piece takes on when the work piece is oriented so that it abuts both of the pins simultaneously.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a vise jaw which can support a work piece with surfaces of the work piece oriented in a non-horizontal orientation at a desired angle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vise jaw which both holds the work piece still and maintains an orientation of the work piece within the vise.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vise jaw which has a sloping surface of fixed angle so that no risk of improper adjustment of the vise jaw or a slippage of the vise jaw is presented.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a set of vise jaws with each vise jaw having a different sloping surface with a different angle, so that one of the vise jaws can be selected having a desired angle for the work piece.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vise jaw which both holds the work piece from motion horizontally but also prevents the work piece from moving vertically downward due to forces of a machining tool cutting on the work piece.
Other further objects of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of the included drawing figures, the claims and detailed description of the invention.